Warner Bros. Feature Animation
Warner Bros. Feature Animation 'was an feature animation division of Warner Bros. Animation, established in 1994. The studio closed in 2004 after the financial failure of ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Background After the closure of Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1969 due to the rising costs and declining returns of short subject production, Warner Bros. released eleven animated features between 1973 and 1994, all of which were produced by outside studios. These features included: Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, Animalympics, ''Hey Good Lookin, Civil War, Twice Upon a Time, Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer, The Nutcracker Prince, Rover Dangerfield, Don Bluth's Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park, as well as compilation films starring the Looney Tunes characters, such as The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island (1983), and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters. Starting in 1979 with The Legend Ninja Warrior, Warner Bros. became one of the primary distributor of some animated features produced by Valentina Animation, many of which, such as Tales of the Journey and Animals Story, were notable critical and financial successes. In the wake of critical and box office success of Valentina's animated feature, as well as JeremyWorks' Life of Teenagers, it mark Warner Bros. having its own feature animated division. History In 1994, Warner Bros., as well as several other Hollywood studios, moved into feature animation following the success of Paramount Feature Animation's Princess and Prince Adventures and Walt Disney Feature Animation's The Lion King. Max Howard, a Disney alumnus, was brought in to head the new division, which was set up in Sherman Oaks near the television studio in nearby Glendale. Turner Feature Animation, later merged and named Warner Bros. Feature Animation, like all of the in-house feature animation studios proved an unsuccessful venture, as six of the seven films under-performed during its original theatrical releases (due to lack of promotion). The first of Warners' animated features was Space Jam (1996), a live-action/animated hybrid which starred NBA star Michael Jordan opposite Bugs Bunny (Jordan had previously appeared with the Looney Tunes in a number of Nike commercials). It was directed by Joe Pytka (live-action) and Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone (animation). Space Jam ''received mixed to negative reviews from critics but proved to be a success at the box office. Animation production for ''Space Jam was primarily done at the new Sherman Oaks studio, although much of the work was outsourced to animation studios around the world. Before the success of Space Jam, a Turner Entertainment-run studio that spun off from Hanna-Barbera were already producing animated features following the success of the Disney features. The first was The Pagemaster, a fantasy adventure featuring the performances of Macaulay Culkin and Christopher Lloyd with live-action segments serving as bookends for the film's story. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film under-performed and received negative reviews from critics during its holiday release of 1994. After the merger with Turner and Warner Bros' parent Time Warner in 1996, Turner Feature Animation completed its second and last feature, Cats Don't Dance (1997), which was met with warm critical and audience reception but under-performed due to little marketing and fanfare. By the time of the film's release however, Turner Feature Animation had merged with Warner Feature Animation and transferred a majority of its staff from said studio while some of its staff went on to join its feature animation rival, Paramount Feature Animation. The following year, its next film, Quest for Camelot (1998), underwent production difficulties and received negative reviews from critics, however its soundtrack (such as one of the songs, "The Prayer") received some accolades. In the same year, Warner Feature Animation signed a co-production deal with Valentina Animation and ClearWorld Entertainment to co-produce Lucky & Master (2000) and Future DX (2000), which both was already in pre-production. The third animated feature from Warner Feature Animation, Brad Bird's The Iron Giant (1999), received a positive reception from critics and audiences. However, the studio decided to rush its release to the end of the summer with a rushed marketing push. The studio's fourth film, ClearWorld's Lucky & Master (2000), was received a positive reception from critics and audiences and a critical and financial success; it grossed over $543 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of the year, overpowering Disney's Dinosaur. In the same year, Valentina's Future DX, WBFA's fifth animated feature, received a positive reception from critics and audiences, and was a modest success at the box office. The studio's next film, Osmosis Jones (2001), was another animated/live action mix that suffered through another troubled production. This time, the animation segments, directed by Tom Sito and Piet Kroon, were completed long before the live-action segments were filmed, eventually directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly and starring Bill Murray. The resulting film received mixed reviews and under-performed, although it was successful on home video for Warner's Television Animation department to produce a related Saturday morning cartoon, Ozzy & Drix (2002–2004) for its WB broadcast network. Following the releases of The Iron Giant and Osmosis Jones, the feature animation staff was scaled back, and the entire animation staff - feature and television - were moved to the larger Sherman Oaks facility. Looney Tunes: Back in Action, was released in 2003. It was intended to be the starting point for a reestablishment of the classic cartoons brands, including a planned series of new Looney Tunes theatrical shorts, produced by Back in Action writer and producer Larry Doyle. After Back in Action, directed by Joe Dante (live action) and Eric Goldberg (animation), received mixed reviews from critics and under-performed at the box office, production was shut down on the new shorts. However, several TV series based upon the Looney Tunes property, Baby Looney Tunes (2002–2005), Loonatics Unleashed (2005–2007), The Looney Tunes Show (2011–2014), and Wabbit (2015–present) have assumed the place of the original shorts on television. After the box office failure of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Warner Bros. laid off most of the employees at the Feature Animation studio, downsizing it to one unit and beginning plans to move into fully computer-animated features. A handful of employees were offered positions for computer animation. Subsequently, in 2004, Warner Bros. Feature Animation officially announced they were becoming a fully CGI studio, now with a staff of 460 people, and began selling off all of its traditional animation equipment. In the same year, Warner Bros. renamed its Feature Animation unit as Shield Animation. By that time, most of its employees went to work for JeremyWorks Studios, while others went to Blue Sky Studios and Paramount Animation. As of 2016, Shield Animation and Warner Animation Group are both successor of Warner Bros. Feature Animation. Filmography Feature films Released films : SCombines live-action with animation. Trivia Coming soon! Category:Company Category:WarnerMedia Category:Warner Bros.